Career trends: rise in work from home jobs

One of this decade's most prominent career trends is the work from home surge,

Here are some of the most notable statistics to highlight this trend:

20% of the working UK population regularly telecommute

7% of the UK working population work from home on a full time basis

Of these, 78% work on a freelance or consultancy basis

55% of employers would consider using a work from home scheme

86% of employers worry that employees would not work as hard from home as they would from the office

Productivity of work from home employees increases by around 30%

85% of employees would like to have the chance to work from home

61% of employees would feel worried about asking their boss if they could telecommute

23% of employees feel that they could continue to perform their duties on a telecommuting basis

A further 20% feel that they could perform their roles if some minor alterations were made (for example, meetings were conducted via conference calls)

These statistics clearly illustrate that although work from home jobs are more popular than ever, attitudes lag behind the times.

Employees still view the ability to work from home as a benefit. Although many office-based workers feel that they could continue to perform their job roles effectively from home, they are worried about asking their managers if they could try a telecommuting arrangement.

A primary concern for management is that employees would not work as well from home as they would when they were in the office. The fact that productivity tends to increase for home workers may alleviate some of these fears.